The president said he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the U.S Commerce Department, which "has been instructed to get it done."

While it's not surprising that Trump would announce his support for such a move on Twitter, the fact that he's so forcefully supporting ZTE in the first place raises eyebrows for a number of reasons.

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

A bit of background: ZTE is one of the largest smartphone makers in China, where the company employs 75,000, according to The New York Times. Unlike many other Chinese smartphone makers, ZTE's Android phones are also popular in the U.S, thanks to low-cost phones and savvy marketing ploys (the company's sponsored five NBA teams, including the Golden State Warriors).

But the company's run into problems in the U.S in recent years. American intelligence agencies have accused the firm of using its phones to spy on Americans. ZTE has denied the charges, but the accusation nevertheless led to some major carriers dropping the manufacturer (Chinese company Huawei has been hit with similar claims too).

Adding to tensions, the company was slapped with a $1.2 billion fine last year after the U.S government discovered it was doing business with North Korea and Iran. The company paid the settlement, but was also supposed to sanction its executives over the issue. Those mandated reprimands never happened and it was this that triggered the Department of Commerce's move last month to officially ban U.S exports to the company.

Since ZTE relies on components manufactured in America, the export ban was likely to have a devastating effect on the company.

Which brings us back to Trump. That he would be so supportive of a company which his own government fined for doing business with Iran is, well, confusing as hell.

Uh, US companies were banned from selling to ZTE because it violated sanctions with Iran, which this administration claims is such a threat that it just imposed new sanctions. https://t.co/4PK5PmJSyP

ZTE systematically violated our sanctions against Iran. It repeatedly lied to the US government while in remediation. It’s been effectively banned in the US over national security concerns. But I guess Chinese jobs are more important to Trump than any of that https://t.co/UPzVp3lApb

The fact that he cited concern over losing Chinese jobs, also didn't go over well, considering he repeatedly railed against U.S jobs being outsourced to China during his presidential campaign,

Never thought I would see a president bragging about being more concerned for saving Chinese manufacturing jobs that US jobs (he once promised penalties for manufacturing abroad but abandoned that completely) or for US cyber security, given the spying allegations against ZTE.

After two years of assailing his predecessors for putting Chinese workers before Americans, President Trump today said he directing his administration to reverse the effective shutdown of ZTE in order to save Chinese jobs. https://t.co/HI3scWuElu

The whole thing led many to speculate about whether or not Trump had another reason for his sudden about-face on ZTE.

Trumps concern for Chinese jobs for phones that the DoD banned & US intelligence says can be intercepted/turned into listening devices indicates there is money changing hands here we have yet to uncover. https://t.co/CvwZGUDWi7

So confused. The Intelligence Community is worried that ZTE is spying on Americans and Trump is working hard to create more jobs in China? I bet you Ivanka and Don Jr. are already drawing up plans for Trump Tower Beijing & Trump Tower Pyongyang. https://t.co/A6kwbGNiRU

In another tweet, posted later Sunday afternoon, Trump said "China and the United States are working well together on trade," adding "be cool, it will all work out."

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!

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